Last summer I managed to lift 100kg for a deadlift. I only started properly trying to improve the weight I could lift around the start of April 2018 so I was really quite chuffed. Not long after that I went on holiday and somewhere in there I hurt my chest and set off a killer bout of Costochondritis. I have had this before, once, a few years ago and it took months to get rid of. Most average people can heal up from it within a few weeks, usually 4 – 6, however I suspect because of my combo of Fibromyalgia and ME it takes me much longer.
This was confirmed at the start of August last year and I was told to avoid all lifting. So I did.
This week I got back into the gym for the first time since that – having been appropriately OK’d by a GP to go back – and it gave me an opportunity to think about my strength goals this year. I did a similar activity early last year and, unsurprisingly, didn’t hit those targets.
Trying to think sensibly I’ve broken them down into two main sections. Goal one is to get back to where I was last summer:
- Deadlift: 100kg
- Squat: 50kg
- Bench: 30kg
Goal two will come into effect once goal one is achieved and I feel confident in myself. That will be to increase those numbers by 20kg each. The only one I’m unsure of here is benching 50kg. There is no time limit on goal two, so if it takes me til mid-way through 2020 that’s fine.
Ideally, I’d like to be hitting goal one levels by April as I signed up, last summer before injuring myself, for a beginner’s strong-woman competition that is to take place on Easter Saturday. The competition includes five events:
- Log press – floor to overhead – reps for 60 seconds – 35kg
- Deadlift – reps for 60 seconds – 90kg
- Plate front hold – as long as possible – 10kg
- Yoke & Farmers walk – 20m dash – 100kg
- Atlas stone over yoke – reps for 60 seconds – 50kg
In preparation for this, this week’s first PT session back was farmer’s walks, log presses and a medicine ball over yoke. Handily, my new trainer is also going to this event so is plenty familiar with the lifts involved.
I did better than I had expected myself to do for the first day back and while I still have to get back into the habit of multiple sessions a week, I am quietly confident for the year ahead.